at the village of Wus, and I persuaded a dainty
damsel (she was full-grown, but only 134.4 cm. high) to make me a
specimen of pottery. It was finished in ten minutes, without any tool
but a small, flat, bamboo splinter. Without using a potter's wheel
the lady rounded the sides of the jar very evenly, and altogether
gave it a most pleasing, almost classical shape.

When we returned south we could see what damage the earthquake had
done. All the slopes looked as if they had been scraped, and the sea
was littered with wood and bushes. We also experienced the disagreeable
sensation of an earthquake on the water. The boat suddenly began to
shake and tremble, as if a giant hand were shaking it, and at the same
time more earth fell down into the water. The shocks recurred for
several weeks, and after a while we became accustomed to them. The
vibrations seemed to slacken and to become more horizontal, so that
we had less of the feeling of being pushed upwards off our feet,
but rather that of being in an immense swing. For six weeks I was
awakened almost every night by dull, threatening thunder, followed
some seconds later by a shock.

Another village where pottery was made was Pespia, a little inland. The
chief obligingly gathered the scattered population, and I had ample
opportunity to buy pots and watch the making of them. The method is
different from that at Wus, for a primitive wheel, a segment of a
thick bamboo, is used. On this the clay is wound up in spirals and
the surface smoothed inside and out. This is the method by which
most of the prehistoric European pottery was made. The existence of
the potter's art in these two villages only of all the New Hebrides
is surprising. Clay is found in other districts, and the idea that
the natives might have learnt pottery from the Spaniards lacks
all probability, as the Spaniards never visited the west coast of
Santo. The two entirely different methods offer another riddle.

I made my way back along the coast, round Cape Cumberland. One of my
boys having run away, I had to carry his load myself, and although
it was not the heaviest one, I was glad when I found a substitute
for him. This experience gave me an insight into the feelings of a
tired and discontented carrier.

At Wora I found that my host had returned to his station near
Talamacco. So I returned to Talamacco by boat; the earthquake had
been very violent there, and had caused the greatest damage, and I
heard that a